The First To Guide The Stars
by venivan
Summary: Yamaguchi doesn't know what happens to him when the ace of a rival team safes him from three bullies and casually joins him for lunch afterwards. What he does know is that he is very interested in Iwaizumi Hajime, way more then he would like to admit. Not that it really matters. There is no way that the strong ace feels the same way about him, right? Right?
1. Chapter 1

Yamaguchi was walking through a small alley when it happened.

He was walking with his phone in his hand, his eyes fixated on the screen. His fingers eagerly typing away, hoping that he had enough time to send his message before his battery ran out.

He only had 7% left and he knew his phone could shut down at any moment. He was supposed to be in front of the McDonalds right now, where he had agreed to meet his best friend, but he had missed the bus. He was just about to text Tsukki that he would be a little later when he saw that Tsukki had already texted him.

 **Tsukishima:** I have to cancel our plans today. My uncle and aunt decided to drop by. I have to stay home. Sorry.

Yamaguchi immediately wrote back a reply.

 **Yamaguchi:** It's okay, don't worry about it. See you tomorrow!

He was just about to hit sent when a brute force suddenly pushed against his shoulder. He let out a surprised yell and stumbled back. The only reason that he didn't fall on the ground was the wall behind him, as he roughly fell against it. He looked up, still trying to find his balance, confused and slightly annoyed, only to meet the eyes of a big, muscled boy.

Yamaguchi's eyes widened.

In front of him where three guys, all with a determent smirk on their faces. The one that has pushed him was definitely the biggest, and Yamaguchi knew he was strong too, judging by how hard he had shoved against him. They all stood uncomfortable close to Yamaguchi, cornering him against the wall.

It was immediately clear that they hadn't accidently bumped into him. Yamaguchi knew these kind of people. They had this certain aura around them, this certain superiority. The way they smiled at him, the hungry look in their eyes, the way that their chest was pushed forward and their strong arms where put against their sides, it where all signs that told Yamaguchi to run away right now. These guys where trouble. They reminded him of older times. Bad times.

The big guy did a step forward, leaning over Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi automatically did a step back, but immediately realized that wasn't possible when you already stood against a wall. Fuck. A few flashbacks to his middle school hovered before his eyes. Fuck, he really didn't want this now. His fingers tightened around his cell phone, wishing that Tsukki was here.

"Hey," the big guy said, "look out where you walk, will you?"

Oh yeah, right, Yamaguchi thought. Because I was the one that pushed you, and not the other way around.

Of course, he didn't say that. He looked at the ground, hating himself for looking so weak, and talked to his shoes.

"I'm sorry," he said.

He looked up for a split second, avoiding the eyes of the guys in front of him, and tried to do a step forward. "I'm sorry," he said again, this time more determent, "I have to go now."

He tried to run.

His miserable attempt to escape was stopped almost immediately, as one of the guys pushed him back against the wall. It wasn't a hard push, but it was a warning: don't try that again.

Yamaguchi panicked, his eyes traveling from one guy to another, his back against the cold stone wall. There was nobody else in the ally, and Tsukki wouldn't just appear out of nowhere to rescue him. He was alone, he was very screwed, and he was terrified.

Still, he wasn't going to just let them do what they wanted with him. He wasn't the old Yamaguchi anymore, right? He wasn't a scared middle schooler, he was the pinch server of Karasuno, and he wasn't going to be intimidated by some assholes.

"What do you want from me?" he asked. His voice was loud, but it was still trembling. Of course, they noticed that. They always noticed everything.

"Oh, oh," the boy to the right said, "You're trying to act though, heh?"

Yamaguchi flinched. "I just want to get out of here," he said. Shit, that sounded way to desperate.

The guys laughed.

"You don't think you can just walk away, after you pushed me, right?" the big guy asked, raising his eyebrow.

Yamaguchi didn't know what to say. Why could he never talk back?

"I told you," he said, his hand tightening around his cell phone, "I'm sorry. Now please let me go."

The big guy smirked. "How are you going to pay me back?"

"Pay you back?" Yamaguchi let his guard down for a second, confused by the question. The guy to the left suddenly snatched Yamaguchi's phone out of his hand.

"Hey!" he yelled, trying to snatch it back. The guy held it out of his reach, victoriously waving it around.

"Give that back," Yamaguchi yelled. He was angry, but he didn't have enough courage to forcefully take his phone back.

They guy on the left gave it to the big guy in the front. "Maybe I'll take this as an apology for pushing me."

"You can't!" Yamaguchi yelled out. "Please, give it back."

Why did he always sound so miserable and weak when he was angry?

"Let me see," the big guy said, shamelessly scrolling around on Yamaguchi's phone. The conversation with Tsukki was still open, and all three where now reading it like it was the most interesting thing ever. Yamaguchi clenched his hands into fist. He didn't want this. He really didn't want this. But he was too scared to do anything.

"You seem to be very close with this Tsukki guy," one of them said, "a little bit to close, maybe, hmm?"

Yamaguchi gasped. No. They couldn't possibly know about that.

"Please give my phone back," he said, his voice already sounding like he lost the fight, "that is private okay?"

The big guy laughed, about to throw a nasty comment at Yamaguchi's face, but was interrupted by the guy on the left.

"Wait an minute," he said, looking from the phone screen to Yamaguchi. "You are Yamaguchi."

Yamaguchi was confused. He couldn't do anything else than nod.

A big smile appeared on the guys face. "You are little Tadashi."

Suddenly, everything clicked. Yamaguchi looked the guy in the eyes and realized that he knew this person. This was one of his old classmates. One that he never wanted to see again. He forgot to breathe for a second, his mind going into overdrive. Shit, now he was shaking too.

How could this situation possibly get any worse?

"I know this guy from middle school," the boy explained to the other ones. "He was already lame back then. I didn't recognise him because of those ridicules clothes."

He looked Yamaguchi dead in the eyes. "What did you want to do, huh? Look strong? You really think you can pull off a tank with those puny arms of you?"

Yamaguchi shamefully bow his head. Of course, they had to get him on that one thing that he was insecure about. He looked at the ripped jeans and the black tank top that he was wearing. He stared at the leader bracelet around his left arm. he fidgeted with the metal cord that hang from his trousers.

"I thought they looked cool," he mumbled. He did really think they looked cool. He felt confident wearing them. Now that confidence was basically reduced to zero.

All the guys burst into laughing.

"Oh my god," the guy on the left said, "Tiny Tadashi is trying to look cool. This is the funniest shit I've seen in years."

Yamaguchi closed his eyes, feeling smaller than ever. All he could still hope for was that he wouldn't cry, but he could already feel the tears building up behind in eyelids.

"What is this?" A voice suddenly said, forcing Yamaguchi to open his eyes again. He recognized that voice, but he couldn't immediately place it. It wasn't from one of those assholes, right?

Behind the three boys stood a brought figure with his arms crossed. "What are you guys doing?"

Yamaguchi didn't even process what the guy was saying. The only thing he could do was stare, unaware of his mouth that was hanging open.

Right before him, with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, his bare arms crossed and a dangerous glare in his eyes, stood the ace of Aoba Josei, Iwaizumi Hajime.

He just stood there, steady as a rock, looking down on the three boys that had cornered Yamaguchi. He wasn't necessarily taller than them, but he still looked down on them.

You could feel it. He was stronger then them. He stood above them. It was something about how he was standing there that made him look like that.

Still, the boys didn't give in.

"None of your business," the big guy said, "leave."

Iwaizumi didn't move a muscle. He clearly didn't feel threatened. "I have no intension in leaving," he said, calm and firm, "so if you don't want to be in my presence, I suggest you leave instead."

The big guy now completely turned around, turning his back to Yamaguchi. "You wanna fight, huh?" he yelled.

Iwaizumi just shrugged his shoulders. "I'd rather not. But if I have to…" He did a step forward, ready to throw a punch, but instead of attacking the big guy, his arm reached for Yamaguchi's phone, snatching it out of the hand of Yamaguchi's old classmate. Iwaizumi didn't look at the screen and just held in firmly in his hand. "This isn't yours."

Yamaguchi just stood there, nervously waiting for the outcome of this. He was still shocked by the fact that the ace of their rival team was standing up for him.

The three guys seemed to be overwhelmed by Iwaizumi's confidence and power, but still didn't back out.

"You bastard," the big guy yelled, "I'll crush you!"

Yamaguchi flinched. Iwaizumi's glance didn't change. He didn't say anything either. He just stood there, ready for whatever would come for him.

Even Yamaguchi felt intimidated by Aoba Josei's ace. He unconsciously pressed himself further into the wall, like he wanted to be invisible.

The tension between the three guys and Iwaizumi was sharp as a blade. It seemed like they could jump on each other at any moment now.

Still, Yamaguchi had the feeling that that wouldn't happen. He looked at Iwaizumi and he couldn't help but think that there was something greater about him. Something bigger than just fake confidence and macho-behaviour.

This guy was the real deal.

And the three boys that had threatened Yamaguchi seemed to notice that too.

"Jurou," one of them said, "let's just go."

The big guy turned to his friend with a nasty glare. "What!?"

Luckily, the other one tuned in too. "Come on. He isn't worth it."

The big guy, Jurou, looked at Iwaizumi once more, but then luckily backed off.

"Fine," he said, his voice low and full of anger. "Let's go."

They all walked away, giving Yamaguchi some room to breathe. He did a small step forward, but Jurou roughly pushed him back to the wall again, just with one hand. Yamaguchi groaned when his back hit the wall, but still felt relieved when he saw the three boys leaving. He couldn't help but stare at them as they walked of, their silhouette slowly getting smaller. He finally felt like he could breathe again, and for a few seconds he completely forgot that he wasn't alone.

"Here is you're phone," Iwaizumi said, pulling Yamaguchi back into reality. Yamaguchi turned around, a little startled, and reached for his phone. With the familiar piece of electronics in his hand he suddenly realized that he should thank his saviour.

He bowed down, maybe a little bit too much, and closed his eyes. "Thank you so much for helping me!"

"It's okay, it's okay," Iwaizumi said, brushing it off, "get up already."

Yamaguchi got up and squeezed the phone in his hand like his life depended on it.

"Really," he said, "Thank you."

"No problem." Iwaizumi had already lost his intimidating body language, looking relaxed and at ease now. His eyes looked calm and unfocused, till they suddenly sparked up a little. "Hey," he said, "wait…"

He stared at Yamaguchi with open eyes. "I know you," he said, surprised by his own revelation, "You are Karasuno's pinch server."

Yamaguchi felt his cheeks turn red. "Yes," he said, "I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi."

Iwaizumi held out his hand for Yamaguchi to shake. "I am Iwaizumi Hajime, nice to meet you."

Yamaguchi giggled. He just couldn't help it. This situation was just so strange. After all the tension and fear that he had felt, shaking hands with the ace of a powerhouse school felt unreal.

Yamaguchi's small hand got squeezed by Iwaizumi's firm grip.

"I already know who you are," Yamaguchi said while letting go of the aces hand.

Iwaizumi smiled. Yamaguchi was kind of surprised, seeing a smile on a face of someone who he only knew as a scary and dangerous opponent. "Is that so? Well…uh…Yamaguchi was it, right?"

Yamaguchi nodded.

"What are you doing here, if I may ask? Being cornered by those assholes couldn't be your goal, right?"

A shy and shameful smile appeared on Yamaguchi's face. "No," he said, "I was actually going to get eat lunch with a friend of mine. I just wanted to take a short-cut."

He ruffled through his hair with his left hand. "Actually, that friend just texted me that he can't even come today."

"Ah," Iwaizumi answered, "you too, I see."

Yamaguchi looked at him in surprise.

Iwaizumi smiled, and it threw Yamaguchi off guard _again._

"I am in the same boot as you," The ace said, "Trashkawa ditched me for some girl."

Only after a few seconds did Yamaguchi realize that 'trashkawa' was Oikawa. A small chuckle escaped from his mouth. Tsukki was going to love this story.

"You're still planning to get something to eat?" Iwaizumi asked, ignoring Yamaguchi's chuckle.

"Yeah," Yamaguchi said, shrugging his shoulders, "I guess so."

"mind if I join you? we are both on or own, we could just as well go together."

This was something that Yamaguchi didn't see coming. At all. He just stared into space for a few seconds, but then realized he had to answer.

"Eh," he said, hoping that he didn't sound nervous, "Sure."

Iwaizumi put his hands in his pockets. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Just mcdonalds?" Yamaguchi asked, simultaneously questioning if this was actually happening. "I don't have lots of money, sorry."

"seems fine by me," Iwaizumi answered. "let's go then."

They walked out of the alley, side by side.

Yamaguchi was confused, a little scared even. He had always seen Iwaizumi as a dangerous opponent, but next to that, also as an unreachable athlete, better then he could ever dream to be. Someone to look up to. Someone you admired from a distance, maybe even envied, but not someone you lunched with.

And yet, here they were. About to eat something together like they were the best of friends. It honestly felt really strange, but all Yamaguchi could do now was go with the flow and hope that he didn't fuck up.

One way or another, He would have a hell of a story for the team tomorrow. Hopefully it would be one with a happy end.

* * *

 **Welcome to my first Iwayama fanfiction! I hope you liked the first chapter. Please leave a review if you can, It would make my day.**

 **Next chapter: Staring into the beautiful eyes of the ace of a rival team is completely normal right?**


	2. Chapter 2

Yamaguchi and Iwaizumi reached the end of the alley without speaking. Yamaguchi felt more than just uncomfortable about that, but he was too nervous to say anything himself. He just focused on his own shoes, a coping skill he had learned in middle school. It didn't help, but it placebo-helped, and that was the best Yamaguchi could ask for. He did glance at Iwaizumi once in a while, still not believing that they were actually doing this. He always immediately looked down to make sure the older one wouldn't notice. He didn't want to embarrass himself.

Being saved from bullies was already embarrassing enough, he should at least try not to make it worse.

This whole situation was just kind of a roller-coaster. First he got threatened by some random punks, shoved into the wall and humiliated, and not even a minute later he was about to grab some lunch with Aoba Josei's ace. It certainly took Yamaguchi some time to adapt to that. The adrenaline was still rushing through his body and that made it hard to relax and become at ease with the situation.

Iwaizumi didn't seem to have any problem with it though. He adapted to the situation almost flawlessly, like saving first years from bullies was something that he did on a daily basis. He was relaxed and aloof. He hadn't even said anything about what had happened. He didn't even ask if Yamaguchi was okay.

And even though this was probably the polite thing to do, Yamaguchi was relieved that he wouldn't need to have awkward conversations about what happened. Iwaizumi basically pretended that nothing had happened at all, and Yamaguchi gladly did the same. He just kind of wished that there would be something else that they could talk about.

"congratulations on beating Shiritorizawa," Iwaizumi suddenly said, like he was reading Yamaguchi's mind.

Yamaguchi smiled. Of course, they could talk about volleyball. "thank you. It was hard work, but we did it in the end."

"honestly," Iwaizumi said, "I was there, and I really have no idea how you've done it."

That made Yamaguchi laugh a little. He scratched at the back of his hand. "you know," he said, "I feel exactly the same. I mean, we worked really hard of course. And we went all out. But I'm still surprised that we actually did it."

There was silence for a few seconds. Iwaizumi seemed to be lost in thought, and for a second Yamaguchi was afraid that he hit a nerve.

Karasuno had stolen the victory from Aoba Josei. It wouldn't be strange for Iwaizumi, who was a third year, to hold a grunge against Karasuno. Had Yamaguchi said something wrong?

"I'm sorry," he said, not sure what he was even apologizing for.

Iwazumi laughed. "no, no," he waved his hand up and down. "don't apologize for winning. I was just thinking back at the times that we fought against Shiritorizawa. We've never won, and we know how hard it is to play against them."

For a second, Iwaizumi looked Yamaguchi direct in the eyes. It sent a chill through Yamaguchi's spine.

"We are probably the only ones," Iwaizumi continued, "who really know how impossible it is, what you guys have done. It's really incredible." He laughed in himself, "I can't say that I'm not envious. But I'm mostly impressed. You guys amaze me in a very strange way."

Yamaguchi giggled, feeling flustered and uncomfortable at the same time. He was proud of course, but at the same time, he wasn't really the one who had done any of the real work.

"we are a strange team," he ended up saying. "seriously, being part of it is pretty hectic."

Iwaizumi smiled. "I can imagine that." A tiny silence. "how long have you've been playing volleyball?"

"eh…since middle school? I'm not very good though."

"your jump flout serves are a real pain in the ass."

Yamaguchi felt a chuckle escape from his mouth. He didn't expect such bluntness.

"I guess," he said, not looking Iwaizumi in the eyes. "I trained really hard to get those right. It's also the only thing I can really do."

"hmm," Iwaizumi mumbled, "the serve is a strong weapon. Having a good pinch server can be a very effective way to change the momentum. It can be a life safer in close games. Mostly for such a chaotic team like Karasuno. They are lucky to have you."

Yamaguchi didn't know what to say. He only knew that his cheeks where probably very red. Iwaizumi said those words in such easy fashioned way, like he was just stating some facts. It made Yamaguchi blushed harder then he probably should.

Dammit, why was he so easily brought off guard by praise? He had to say something, but he suddenly forgot all words in existence.

Luckily, Iwaizumi still had things to say. "we have Oikawa, of course. His server are a great help."

Yamaguchi giggled. "a great help, heh? That's probably a understatement. I am kind of happy I never had to receive one of his serves."

His voice sounded relaxed, but his heart was beating in his chest.

Why was he so nervous about this?

"true, I guess," Iwaizumi answered, "I am happy he is on our side too, actually. I don't like receiving his serves in practice. Even though there is nothing more satisfying then a solid receive."

Yamaguchi bow his head. "I suck at receiving."

"everyone sucks at receiving in the beginning," Iwaizumi stated, "Receiving is a pain in the ass. But, you know…" A tiny flicker in those green eyes. "…If you get it right, it's the best feeling ever."

Yamaguchi couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. He never had been able to pull off a truly satisfying receive and he doubted he would ever get good enough for that moment to arrive. But still…

"A good serve feels like that too."

Iwaizumi nodded. "It always feels good if your practice pays off. That why we all keep playing volleyball, I guess."

Yamaguchi opened his mouth to agree to that, but he noticed that they arrived at their destination. They walked into the McDonalds. There was silence between them again, but this time it didn't even feel awkward.

Okay, maybe a little. But it was not the I-want-to-die-right-now-awkward. It was more like the I'm-slightly-uncomfortable-awkward, and Yamaguchi could live with that. Besides, even though it still felt strange, talking to Iwaizumi was surprisingly…easy.

He even dared to say that Aoba josei's ace was a pretty nice person.

They made their order and waited for their food to be ready. All this time in silence gave Yamaguchi the change to catch his breath and calm down a little. When they walked over to an empty table and sat down next to the window, he could even say that he felt at ease.

It was still silent, but since they were eating, it was okay. Yamaguchi glared at Iwaizumi over his burger. This was the first time that he really had the change to look at the other up close. He made sure not to stare, but his eyes kept wandering back anyway.

Iwaizumi was strangely good-looking. He had a rough appearance, sure, but he had this strange gentle edge to him. His slightly tanned skin, his spiky hair and his deep green eyes immediately got Yamaguchi's attention, and he couldn't help but feel like he wanted to keep looking at them.

He his eyes wandered over Iwaizumi's face in the way that he had learned himself to look at people without them noticing. He felt bad for it, guilty and wrong, but he couldn't help doing it. His glance and travelled down along Iwaizumi's neck, to his shoulders –oh god his shoulders.

Yamaguchi suddenly pulled away his eyes. He focused on his own burger instead, shocked by his own thoughts.

No. These were exactly the kind of thoughts he needed to repress.

He suddenly felt really uncomfortable. Was it because he had let himself go? Was it because he really wanted to take a better look at the boy in front of him? Was it because he was blushing like a tomato? Was it because Iwaizumi had maybe noticed that he had been staring?

He looked up, and was surprised to directly meet Iwaizumi's eyes. He flinched, not knowing what he should do with that dangerous glance. Had Iwaizumi been staring at him, too?

No, that couldn't be it. That just couldn't be it.

Right?

He looked at Iwaizumi and saw the others eyes hover over Yamaguchi's body.

Was he….really looking at him? Maybe even…checking him out?

He wanted to say something, but his mind let him down.

Once again, Iwaizumi was there to speak in his place. Yamaguchi didn't know if he was happy with that though, as he hadn't seen such dark eyes in a long time.

"yama…Yamaguchi, right?" Iwaizumi said. "Can I ask you something personal?"

Yamaguchi felt his chest tighten. No, he thought. "yes," he said.

Iwaizumi shifted in his chair, his burger loosely in his hand, his eyes still focused on Yamaguchi.

"those people that threatened you…did you know them?"

Yamaguchi stopped breathing for a second because of the straightforwardness of Iwaizumi's question. He silently shook his head. He didn't like to talk about this. "I knew one of them," he eventually said, "from middle school. That was pure coincidence though."

Iwaizumi mumbled something . "I was just wondering," he said. Then a little louder: "Did they hurt you like that?"

Yamaguchi was confused. "hurt…me? They did shove me into the wall….I guess."

He nervously scratched his head.

"no," Iwaizumi said, "I meant the bruise on your shoulder. Did they do that?"

For a second Yamaguchi was completely lost. He slowly bow his head to look at his own chest when the sudden realization hit him.

His tank top was slightly to big, and one of the sleeves had slighted down his arm. A small but painful looking bruise revealed itself between his chest and his shoulder.

Okay. This was awkward. A nervous expression found its way onto Yamaguchi's face when he slowly looked up again.

"actually…." He said, "I got this bruise when I received one of your spikes…"

Iwaizumi's eyes widened. "oh."

For a second, he looked...cute?

Okay, that was absolutely not weird or anything.

Iwaizumi smiled, but he looked a little nervous. "sorry."

Nope, nope, nope. Definitely not cute. Definitely not. Aces of power houses where not cute, okay.

Yamaguchi realized that he should probably say something and shook his head. "no, no," he said, "that's all part of the sport."

He was still slightly overwhelmed because he had just thought that the ace of Aoba josei was cute. Form all the thoughts that he didn't expect to have today, this one certainly stood high on the list.

Then again, almost everything that was happening right now stood high on his list.

"I have to admit," Iwaizumi said, pulling Yamaguchi out of his thoughts. "I was pretty damn pissed when you received that ball."

Yamaguchi dared to smile. "I have to admit," he said himself, "I was pretty damn terrified when I received that ball."

Iwaizumi chuckled. "well, It worked out for you in the end."

"I guess." Yamaguchi took a sip from his milkshake. "It was definitely worth it."

"then it's okay."

Yamaguchi nodded. Some part of him wanted to tell Iwaizumi how important it was for him, how bad he wanted to be on the court, and that he little bruise wasn't going to stop him from doing that, but he didn't really know how to say that in a not-awkward way, so he kept his mouth shot.

Somehow, he thought that Iwaizumi would understand it anyway, even without him telling.

He slowly put the last part of the hamburger in his mouth and caught himself staring at the other again. He should really have some more self-discipline, or he was gonna get in trouble one day.

"You know," Iwaizumi said, "I actually really like that band."

Yamaguchi was confused, and apparently that was visible in his expression, because Iwaizumi laughed and pointed at Yamaguchi's tank top.

The logo from Yamaguchi's favourite band was there, the colours standing out against the black fabric.

"you do?" he said, hardly able to hide his enthusiasm.

Iwaizumi nodded. "I went to their concert once. They are absolutely amazing live."

Yamaguchi's mouth almost fell open from jealousy. "I wish I could see them live. They are my favourite band."

"They tour quite often, I'm sure you'll be able to go once."

Yamaguchi sighed. "I hope so."

Iwaizumi leaned forward on the table. "where the fuck did you find that tank top? It's awesome! But it's not from their official site, isn't it?"

Yamaguchi smiled. A real, honest smile filled with pride. "I found it at this tiny little web shop," He explained, "they have amazing things, and it's not even that pricy! I bought this one a week ago, and it already arrived, even though they told me it would probably take two weeks."

Iwaizumi raised his eyebrows. "nice, man. Could you give me the site?"

Yamaguchi nodded, already looking for his phone. "I have it on my phone…wait…"

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and eagerly pressed the start button, only to see that the screen stayed black.

Oh yeah. He phone had almost been empty. It had finally died for real.

"sorry," he said, "my phone his empty."

Iwaizumi shrugged his shoulders. "oh well," he said, "you can tell me if we see each other at a match or something. Oikawa will probably drag me to at least one national game."

Yamaguchi nodded, feeling more disappointed then he probably should.

Iwaizumi put the last part of his hamburger in his mouth and finished his milkshake.

Soon they would leave and both go their separate ways.

For some reason Yamaguchi really didn't like that.

He saw how Iwaizumi swallowed his food and stretched on the bench, and suddenly, in a split second, he made a decision.

"you know," he said before he could back out of it, "you could…If you have one…give me your skype-name, and then I message a link of the site to you."

Yamaguchi didn't think he had ever been this nervous about asking something so simple. What was this feeling? Why was he so scared that this would go wrong? And why did he want it to go right so bad in the first place?

He had never thought about Iwaizumi at all, at least not apart from: This is a really good volleyball player who we need to defeat.

So why did the thought of never seeing him again make him so upset? Why did he care so much?

He looked at his empty plate, waiting for an answer, half cursing himself for taking action.

Iwaizumi didn't seem to notice his discomfort though.

"oh, yeah, sure," he said, "I didn't think about that. Wait, let me get a piece of paper."

Five minutes later, Yamaguchi already stood outside of the McDonalds.

Iwaizumi had left to get the train home, and Yamaguchi was about to do the same, but for some reason he couldn't move. He held the little note with Iwaizumi's skype-name in his hand and remembered that their fingers had touched for half a second when Iwaizumi had handed over the note.

Yamaguchi was screwed. Oh, he was so screwed. But he was not going to admit that yet, oh no.

Everyone would be excited about spending time with the ace of a powerhouse school, right? Okay, maybe thinking about the strong arms of said ace wasn't exactly normal, but who cared. Yamaguchi was happy, and that was all that mattered.

When he came home he put his phone in the charger. Nobody was there, so he decided to listen to one of his cd's in the living room, something that he never did.

He opened his messengers and looked at the unsent message to Tsukki. He erased it and wrote a new one:

 **Yamaguchi:** It's okay Tsukki, I actually had a pretty fun day, so don't worry.

A few minutes later he got a response:

 **Tsukishima:** Oh? Did you do something special?

Yamaguchi smiled. Why couldn't he just stop smiling?

'Not really,'he typed, 'I just had some lunch with the ace of aoba Josei. Nothing special.'

Tsukki's reply came almost immediately.

 **Tsukishima:** What. How?

Yamaguchi eagerly started typing, explaining the situation.

After he had send the message he threw his phone on his bed. He looked at the note next to it with Iwaizumi's skype-name, and oh god, he was smiling like an idiot again.

He was home alone. He was happy. He had turned up the music louder than he had ever dared to do.

For some reason, he just really, really had the urge to loudly sing along to his (and Iwaizumi's!) favourite band.

So that was exactly what he did.

* * *

 **Sooo, here is chapter two! I'll probably update once week :)**

 **Thank you for reviewing MercifulPeaceGraceWisteria and CrimsonRealm!**

 **Next chapter: Yamaguchi is in way to deep. Late night texting doesn't really solve anything, but It's better than nothing.**


	3. Chapter 3

Yamaguchi only started to realize how utterly fucked he was when he sat at his computer in the middle of the night, nervously typing a message to Iwaizumi.

He wasn't typing at all, actually. He had wrote a stunning amount of two words: 'Hello Iwaizumi,' And now he was avoiding writing the rest of the message while pretending that YouTube was the most important thing in the world.

It was already pretty late, and Yamaguchi wasn't sure if he should really sent an message at this hour. He could just type it now and sent it tomorrow.

Or never.

Urgh.

Yamaguchi stared at the screen, hoping that it would somehow solve his problems for him. He eventually typed a second sentence, out of pure willpower, but immediately erased it again.

This wasn't working.

He wished he could ask Tsukki for help. Tsukki would know what to do. But asking Tsukki to help him sent such a simple message would probably give too much away. It would give away how Stupidly important this message was to Yamaguchi.

Tsukki was smart. It kind of surprised Yamaguchi that his best friend hadn't already found out about his secret a long time ago.

He mindlessly stared at the note with Iwaizumi's Skype-name, almost like it was the note's fault that he had all these problems. It was the note's fault for existing. Although Yamaguchi was the one that made the note exist of course.

If he hadn't been so brave, he wouldn't have to deal with this right now.

He threw his phone away and went into a new level of avoidance: Tumblr. He mindlessly scrolled around, not really paying attention to anything. His mind tried to make sense of everything.

Everything he did was finding problems.

Problem one: he was gay. Yes, he was able to think that out loud now. It wasn't that he hated being gay, but it surly made things a lot more complicated. This was the problem that he already had for years, and it wouldn't really ever go away, so he kind of learned to live with it.

Problem two: nobody knew. Everyone though he was just as straight as them. Not even Tsukki, his best friend for god sake, knew that he actually liked boys. This had also been a problem for a long time, and even though he could technically solve this problem, he wasn't really planning on doing that. He didn't even want to think about all the millions of problems that he would gain by solving this tiny one.

Problem three: he was slowly, but still at an alarming rate, developing a crush on a boy. This was a new problem. It had happened before, so he could deal with it, but he hadn't expected to come home with a crush today, so it was an unexpected problem.

Problem four: He didn't even personally know that boy. He didn't even know if he was gay. Probably not. Next to that, this boy was 3 years older than him. This was new territory on the land of Yamaguchi's gay-problems.

Problem five: This boy, his crush, wasn't only an amazing volleyball player, he was also the ace of their rival, and probably not someone he should even want to be friends with. This was a problem that Yamaguchi somehow had never seen coming, and he really had no idea what to do with it.

Sure, he had thought that other volleyball players where handsome before.

You couldn't just look at Oikawa and be like: meh.

The captain of johsenji wasn't exactly ugly either.

Fukurodani's setter was pretty much an angel.

And there was this strange thing about ushiwaka that was just…

Okay, no, stop, this isn't helping.

Yamaguchi forced himself to exit tumblr and closed of all the windows on his computer except for skype.

He was going to do this. And he was going to this right fucking now.

 **Yamaguchi:** Hello Iwaizumi, Here is the link to the site that you wanted to see. Hope you like it.

He probably couldn't have made it any shorter. He actually wanted to read it over a couple of times before he would send it, maybe add a little more text, but…

His finger slipped and accidently send it right away. The message mercilessly popped up on the screen, staring Yamaguchi in the face.

Okay, this was fine. This was okay. No big deal . It was a good message, right? Nothing wrong with it, right-

A sudden realisation made Yamaguchi hit his head against his desk.

The time. How could he have forgotten about the time? He carefully peeked at his phone, almost afraid to know the truth. It couldn't be that late right? It couldn't be-

2 AM. The number where clear and bright on his phone.

It was a school day, and he had send someone he hardly knew a message at 2 AM in the middle of the night.

Great.

* * *

Iwaizumi woke up from a restless sleep because of the sound of his phone. He grumpily turned around, his hand already looking for the phone on his desk.

He normally never woke up from the sound of his phone. Even if Oikawa would sent him 27 pictures of cats in the middle of the night, he would always sleep right through it.

Iwaizumi was someone who basically slept through everything, but tonight it was different for some reason. He hadn't been able to fall asleep on time either.

He unlocked his phone and groaned when the sharp light blinded his eyes. He quickly turned away his face and waited till his eyes where used to the light.

It would probably have been better if he would just leave the message alone, but for some reason he wanted to know what it was.

It was probably just Oikawa….

When he looked at his phone again he saw it was a contact request on skype. His eyes lit up when he saw that it was the one from Yamaguchi, a tiny message with a link attached to it.

He accepted the request, opened the link and scrolled through the site. He was tired and only wanted to take a little glance, but he could already see that this site was everything he could ever ask for. There wasn't only merchandise, there were lots of other things too, things that you couldn't get in normal stores and costed way too much money anywhere else.

This place was perfect.

He opened his skype again and wrote an message back.

 **Iwaizumi:** Hey Yamaguchi, Thank you for the link. This site is amazing! Also, I think it would be wise if you would go to sleep. You shouldn't be awake at this time on school days. Thanks again!

He hit send before he could really think about his message. He realized that he maybe shouldn't have written that last part, but his inner senpai just came out at times like these. He couldn't really help it.

He quickly wrote a second message.

 **Iwaizumi:** Sorry, that was probably not appropriate for me to say.

He hit send and put his phone away. Time to sleep. He didn't have practice tomorrow, which was still weird to him, but he couldn't afford to be tired during class

Still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fall asleep. He was restless, his body kept moving around and his eyes were wide open, staring into the darkness.

Why couldn't he sleep? He always slept well.

After five minutes he decided that he hated not sleeping more then he thought he would. He never realized that laying in bed waiting for sleep to happen was so horrible.

It was boring. It irritated him. He tossed and turned, but he just couldn't find a comfortable position.

Okay, what the fuck was this for bullshit? He was supposed to sleep, dammit.

He was almost happy when he heard his phone go off again. He used it as an excuse to sit up and turn on his bed light.

It was another message from Yamaguchi.

 **Yamaguchi** : It's okay. You are probably right. I just can't sleep, that's all.

Iwaizumi wondered if he should reply. He didn't really have anything to say, but something inside him really wanted him to write something back.

He was probably just so bored from this strange lack of sleep that every distraction was welcome.

Right?

He confirmed that before he could let his mind wonder to places where it shouldn't go and typed his message.

 **Iwaizumi:** Me neither

He realized that that was probably not enough for a message so he added more text.

 **Iwaizumi:** I normally sleep fine, but for some reason I just can't fall asleep tonight.

It only took a few minutes before Yamaguchi replied. Iwaizumi was surprised by the fact that he was actually waiting for it. He never really waited on text messages, he mostly just forgot about them till his phone reminded him that he was having a conversation.

He was probably just really bored. That must be it.

 **Yamaguchi:** I always have problems with falling asleep. I'm a very light sleeper. But I guess it's different for everyone.

 **Iwaizumi: I** sleep as a rock. My mom says it's because of my name. Everyone in our family sleeps very well.

 **Yamaguchi:** Oh, yeah, Iwa means rock, heh? I guess it's in the name then. Must be nice to sleep like that.

 **Iwaizumi:** It is. I'm actually really pissed of that I can't sleep right now. How do people deal with this?

 **Yamaguchi:** We just…don't. We suffer.

 **Iwaizumi:** I can see that now. What do you do when you can't sleep? Do you always chat with strangers?

 **Yamaguchi:** no, haha.. I just scroll around on the internet. Probably not the best thing to do when you want to fall asleep, but oh well.

 **Yamaguchi:** I used to send random messages to Tsukki, my best friend, maybe you remember him? He is the tall middle blocker with glasses. He didn't appreciate me waking him up very much.

 **Iwaizumi:** seems familiar….

 **Yamaguchi:** huh?

 **Iwaizumi:** Oikawa always sends me random pictures of cute animals when he can't sleep.

 **Yamaguchi:** oh, hehe, Yeah, I did that too, till Tsukki threatened he would block me.

 **Iwaizumi:** Did he go through with it?

 **Yamaguchi:** No, he would never do that. But I did stop too, so I'm not sure.

 **Iwaizumi:** hmm…

 **Iwaizumi:** I once blocked Oikawa for a week. He became so annoying in real life that I gave up anyway.

For a few minutes, there was no reply. Iwaizumi looked at the screen, waiting for a message that didn't seem to come. They had texted pretty much non-stop, as none of them had anything else to do, and this sudden silence was strange. When the message finally arrived Iwaizumi could sense this curtain heaviness around it.

 **Yamaguchi:** You and Oikawa seem really close.

Iwaizumi hovered his tumps over his phone, not sure how to reply to that. It was true of course, but he had the feeling that there was more to the question.

 **Iwaizumi:** Yeah, I guess. We have known each other since grade school.

 **Yamaguchi:** I see

 **Yamaguchi** : sorry, that was a strange thing to ask

 **Iwaizumi:** no, no, don't worry about it.

 **Yamaguchi:** I hope you liked the site?

 **Iwaizumi:** Yeah, I really did! Thanks for the tip, man.

 **Yamaguchi:** good, happy I could help.

 **Iwaizumi:** I saw these really awesome fingerless gloves that I'm probably going to buy.

 **Yamaguchi** : Oh, you mean those leather ones with the red edge?

 **Iwaizumi:** yeah, those! They're cool.

 **Yamaguchi:** I was thinking of buying them too.

 **Yamaguchi:** maybe we could

 **Iwaizumi:** hm?

 **Yamaguchi:** no, nevermind.

 **Yamaguchi:** I was typing without thinking.

 **Iwaizumi:** are you sure?

 **Yamaguchi:** I just thought that maybe we could buy them together, so we would cut on shipping costs. Send them to your or my house in one go.

 **Yamaguchi:** but that's such of a hassle. Forget about it.

 **Iwaizumi:** hmm, I actually think it's a great idea.

 **Yamaguchi:** really?

 **Iwaizumi:** Let's talk about it some time.

 **Iwaizumi:** but it think I'm going to try to sleep now. I don't want school to kill me tomorrow.

 **Yamaguchi:** sure, goodnight!

 **Iwaizumi:** goodnight.

Iwaizumi put his phone away. For some reason, he fell asleep immediately. His restlessness had strangely disappeared.

His alarm was ringing way to early, but he stood up anyway.

Normally he had absolutely no problem with waking up in the morning, but this time, it was really hard. He felt dizzy, weak and even slightly sick. Not sleeping really did have his toll on him. He crumply got out of his bed and prepared himself for the day.

Maybe it was because of his tiredness that he couldn't concentrate that day. It surly wasn't because he was thinking about how cute a certain pinch server was.

Not at all.

He was just tired. Sleepy. A little bit out of it. That happened to the best.

Apparently he looked miserable enough for Oikawa to notice. He was sitting on a bench in the hall, looking at his phone. He had opened the conversation with Yamaguchi, even though he didn't really know why. It just kind of happened.

"iwa-chan," Oikawa said, "you look terrifying."

"I know, I know," Iwaizumi answered, "I just haven't slept that well. I'm tired."

Oikawa stared at him with this strange look on his face.

"that's not what I meant Iwa-chan," he said, "you are smiling. A lot. It weirds me out."

Iwaizumi frowned. "that's bullshit."

Oikawa sat down next to him. "The Iwa-chan that I know doesn't smile like that. You know how you smile?"

Iwaizumi didn't answer. He didn't want to know it anyway.

Oikawa moved closer, a grin on his face.

"you smile like you are in love, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi couldn't hide the shock on his face. "that's bullshit, idiot."

He quickly put away his phone, making sure that Oikawa wouldn't notice who he had been texting last night.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Having a best friend can be a pain in the ass, mostly if that best friend is an annoying little shit who is way too curious about your love life or a smartass who is totally looking right through you.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Iwa-chan, you know I'll find it out sooner or later anyway, right? Why won't you just tell me!"

"I told you! There is nothing to find out!"

Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi with disappointment written over his face. "Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi leaned against the lockers in the clubroom, looking at his captain, thinking about different ways to kill him.

Oikawa sat on one of the benches, his legs spread out, his head dramatically thrown back. "It hurts my feelings when you lie to me like that."

Iwaizumi didn't answer. He turned around and closed his locker.

"I know you like someone," Oikawa said, "I just know it." The setter stood up and walked to his friend till he stood uncomfortably close to him.

Iwaizumi sighed. "Ever heard of personal space?" He roughly pushed Oikawa away. Oikawa stumbled back, almost falling over the little bench behind him. Iwaizumi flinched. He hadn't intended to push his friend that hard.

"Well," Oikawa said, a little shaken up, "This guy is certainly something if he makes you even saltier than normally."

"There is no guy," Iwaizumi groaned, "I'm going home."

Of course Oikawa didn't let him go just yet. They always walked home together, and today was no exception.

Oikawa didn't even try to be subtle.

"Do I know him?"

"There is no him!"

"Is he pretty?"

"I told you, there is nobody, so no!"

Oikawa sighed theatrical. For a few seconds it was silent. The sound of their footsteps was the only thing hearable, and Iwaizumi noticed that they walked perfectly in sink. It was a pleasant and relaxing sound.

Of course Oikawa had to ruin the silence almost immediately.

"I don't even know what kind of guys you like," He babbled on, obviously trying a less direct approach, "If you could date one of the members of our team, who would you choose?"

"Do you actually want me to kill you?" Iwaizumi asked.

"Iwa-chan! It's not fun having a gay friend who doesn't want to talk about who they like!"

"You actually want me to kill you."

Oikawa pretended he hadn't heard that. "Is he from our school?"

Iwaizumi didn't answer.

"Do I know him?"

Still silence.

"Does he play volleyball?"

Silence again. This time, the silence held out longer, almost too long, and Iwaizumi was a little confused. He looked up at his friend, only to find a shit-eating grin on his face.

"What?"

"You're blushing, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi quickly looked away. "Am not."

Crap. He could feel he was definitely getting red.

"So," Oikawa said, "Iwa-chan likes a volleyball player."

"I told you, I don't like anyone!"

Oikawa merciless went on.

"Don't tell me," He said, putting up a dramatic voice, "Don't tell me It actually is someone on our team?"

Iwaizumi's eyes grew wide. A strange aching feeling grew in his stomach, a feeling that he was very familiar with. A feeling of fear and shame.

He didn't like anyone on the team. He never had. But he always had been afraid that his sexuality would get in the way of his volleyball.

"Don't be stupid," Iwaizumi said, "You Know I don't." It didn't sound convincing.

And because of that, Oikawa said it. The thing that Iwaizumi always had been afraid of hearing.

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa said in a soft voice, "not even me?"

Bam. That hit hard. The nasty feeling in Iwaizumi's stomach climbed up inside of his chest and closed itself around his longs, making it hard to breath. His heart was racing.

Because this one, he couldn't deny completely. He had been in love with Oikawa. He had been head over heels in love with him, he had cherished him, he had cried over him, he had dreamed about him countless times.

He knew Oikawa wasn't gay, so he had always kept it quiet. Even when he had come out he had managed to keep his crush a secret.

More than losing volleyball, his biggest fear was ruining his friendship with Oikawa. And even now that his crush had faded, he was still terrified that his friend would somehow find out and feel uncomfortable.

He had come so far. It couldn't all come out now.

"It's not you," he heard himself saying in a low voice. It was out of his mouth before he realized it. He was surprised that he wasn't even lying.

"Aha!" Oikawa said, pointing his finger in the air, "So you do like someone!"

Iwaizumi opened his mouth to defend himself, but closed it again when he didn't know what to say.

He didn't really know why, but he ended up giving in.

"It's none of your business anyway," He mumbled, hoping that Oikawa would be offended and back off.

That was stupid of him. An offended Oikawa was a determent Oikawa. He was already regretting saying that when he saw the look on his friends face. Oh, that grin was so annoying.

"So If he isn't me, and he isn't on the team, but he does play volleyball…No way Iwa-chan…You're in love with a rival!"

"I'm not in love," Iwaizumi yelled, "It's just a little crush, that's all." He knew denying it wasn't going to help him anymore.

Oikawa didn't even react to that. "Hmmm," He mumbled, "A rival team…"

He seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and for a second Iwaizumi saw immense terror in his friends face.

"I know you are better than this," Oikawa said, "but I have to ask. Is it Ushiwaka?"

Iwaizumi roughly slapped his friends shoulder. "Of course not. You idiot."

"Okay, okay," Oikawa replied, rubbing over his shoulder. "That hurt Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi just put his arms over each other. He really wanted Oikawa to disappear right now.

"Is it someone from Shirotorizawa in general?"

Iwaizumi violently shook his head. He really wanted to deny that possibility, so he did, but while he was shaking his head, he realized he was digging his own grave by cooperating with Oikawa.

If Oikawa would keep asking questions, he would eventually get to the answer.

Which was something Iwaizumi had to avoid at all cost. He didn't really know how to do that though. Oikawa kept throwing questions at him, not giving him time to think.

"Dateko?"

"no!"

"Wakutani?"

"No!"

"Karasuno?"

"N-NO!"

"Omg," Oikawa said in shock, noticing the tiny stumble in Iwaizumi's words. "You Like someone at Karasuno!"

"No, of course not!" Iwaizumi tried to defend himself, horribly failing at sounding honest. He was way too worked up about this to think straight.

"You like someone from a team that just defeated us!" Oikawa pretty much screamed, dramatically moving his arms around.

"Idiot," Iwaizumi mumbled, "I don't hold grudges till the end of times like _someone_ I know."

Oikawa pretended not to be offended. "I bet It's the captain," He said, "even my straight ass would agree to that."

"It's not the captain," Iwaizumi could feeling the discomfort in his stomach grow.

"Is it mr. refreshing then?" Oikawa continued, "That grey-haired setter?"

"nope." Silence. "Although, not bad."

Oikawa almost tripped over his own feet after hearing that. He wasn't used to Iwaizumi straight out telling him when he thought someone was attractive.

It wasn't something Iwaizumi liked to do. But he hoped he could lead Oikawa away from his real crush that way.

It didn't work.

"Is it the ace?" Oikawa asked.

Iwaizumi just shook his head, already feeling defeated.

There weren't many people in the Karasuno volleyball team. It wouldn't take long for Oikawa to know.

"If its Tobio-chan, I swear to god," Oikawa suddenly said, "I kill you."

Iwaizumi sighed. "It's not Kageyama. Also, you can't kill me if I kill you first."

"whatever," Oikawa mumbled, "Is he even any good?"

"uhmm," Iwaizumi mumbled, "yeah, about that…" he could feel his face turn even more red.

"You like someone who is not even good at volleyball," Oikawa said in shock, "Was he even in the match?"

"He was!" Iwaizumi answered defensively. He only realized he had narrowed down the possibilities even more when he saw Oikawa's grin return to his face.

"Is it that glasses kid then? I wouldn't call him bad. He blocked ushiwaka!"

"It isn't Tsukki ," Iwaizumi said without thinking. He immediately wanted to hit himself. Hard. Why couldn't he just think before he talked?!

"Tsu," Oikawa said while slowly turning his face towards Iwaizumi, "Ki?"

Iwaizumi didn't know what to say. How could he possibly explain that he had remembered the name 'tsukki' after Yamaguchi had mentioned it once, only because Tsukki was apparently important to Yamaguchi and that seemed something his brain wanted to remember.

"Wait a minute," Oikawa said, grinning even wider. "Wait a minute."

Iwaizumi could feel his stomach turn around while his best friend looked him in the eye with a deadly glance of victory.

"That glasses kid," Oikawa said, "Wasn't he kind of…not that close to the team? Except…except for one person though."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Iwaizumi mumbled, probably only reassuring Oikawa's theory.

Oikawa stared at him intensely. "Omg, Iwa, you like the sacredly pinch server!"

"No, I don't!" Iwaizumi lashed out.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, why was he getting red? Why was his heart racing in his chest? Why couldn't he just control his facial expressions?

"You think he is cute, do you?" Oikawa asked teasingly.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"You think he is adorable." It was stated as a fact.

"I don't!" Iwaizumi yelled, looking away from his best friend, "I mean…"

There was silence for a second.

"It's not my fault Okay!"

Oikawa threw an arm around him. Even now, it made Iwaizumi's heart race a little.

"It's okay," Oikawa said, "I won't tell anyone."

Iwaizumi breathed out. "Good. I wouldn't let you anyway."

Oikawa smiled at him. No smirk this time, a sincere smile, from best friend to best friend. Iwaizumi could feel himself relax.

"Still," Oikawa said, already smirking again, "That doesn't mean I'm not going to tease you for it."

Iwaizumi sighed. This was going to be a long week.

Oikawa suddenly leaned closer into Iwaizumi, swallowing him in some kind of awkward hug. Iwaizumi knew Oikawa was clingy, but this was worse than normally. Oikawa's pressed himself against Iwaizumi's side, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Iwaizumi only noticed what was happening when it was too late.

Oikawa's hand slid into Iwaizumi's pocket, quickly taking Iwaizumi's phone in his hand. Iwaizumi tried to stop him, but Oikawa's fast reflexes where too much for him. Within a second Oikawa stood a meter away, Iwaizumi's phone triumphant in his hand.

"Now, Lets text your future boyfriend, shall we?"

Iwaizumi ironically had to think about how he had snatched Yamaguchi's phone out of the hand of a bully yesterday. Oh, how the tables had turned.

"Oikawa," He said, stepping forward with a dramatic tone in his voice, "give my phone back."

Oikawa ignored him and did a few more steps back. "Iwa-chan," he said teasingly, holding Iwaizumi's phone out of reach, "everyone knows you're hopeless in romance. You need my help."

"No, I don't," Iwaizumi answered, trying to grab his phone. "besides, we don't want him to fall in love with _you,_ do we?"

Oikawa didn't even listen. He kept stepping away from Iwaizumi and unlocked his phone. Iwaizumi pretty much dived into him, but Oikawa was too fast. He stepped away from Iwaizumi, and started running. His ability to scroll around on the phone and run at the same time was annoyingly impressive.

"How is this cutie called?" Oikawa asked, looking through Iwaizumi's contacts, "Wait, I think I already found him."

Iwaizumi chased his best friend down the street. He felt ridiculous, but he didn't care. He needed to get that phone back no matter what.

"It is Yamaguchi, huh?" Oikawa yelled, dodging one of Iwaizumi's dives. He quickly changed direction, causing Iwaizumi to lose his balance. "Oh, you guys already talked quite a bit, nice."

"Oikawa Tooru, I swear to god," Iwaizumi yelled while sprinting towards his best friend, "Give me my phone back, right fucking now."

"Wait, Iwa-chan," Oikawa was frantically typing. "Let me send a nice message for you."

Iwaizumi's eyes grew wide. "Don't you dare."

He made one more jump and successfully stole his phone back, taking advantage of how Oikawa was less fast while typing.

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whined, "I am trying to help you here!"

Iwaizumi hit his friend against the shoulder. "You are not helping me. At all."

Oikawa looked sad, but there was a flicker of excitement in his eyes that Iwaizumi didn't like.

"Oh well," Oikawa said with a lazy voice, "at least I got to send one message."

His grin grew immensely wide.

Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes and panicky opened his phone.

It couldn't be that bad right?

He read over the message.

It was worse than he expected.

"You are so dead, I swear."

* * *

Yamaguchi was walking home, His bag over his shoulder, his best friend at his side. Tsukki was silent as ever, but Yamaguchi didn't mind. He didn't really feel like talking today either. Besides, Tsukki and Yamaguchi didn't have to talk to enjoy each other company. Just being in each other's presence was more than enough.

they were almost halfway there when Yamaguchi felt his phone zoom. He fished it out of his pocket and saw that he had a message.

It was not just a message. It was _that_ message. The message that he didn't think would come, but that he had secretly been waiting for the entire day.

When he saw the name 'Iwaizumi Hajime' on his screen he felt his heart do a little jump. A jump of happiness. He held his phone in his hand, his finger hovering over the message, but he decided not to read it just yet. He really wanted to know what the message said, but he knew he couldn't read it in front of Tsukki without raising major suspicion.

He was already doing that by smiling like an idiot.

"what are you smiling about?" Tsukishima asked, noticing Yamaguchi's sudden mood change.

"nothing."

Yamaguchi put his phone away with clumpy fingers, almost dropping it onto the ground.

Tsukki looked at him with a 'I-call-bullshit-on-that' face, but luckily kept his mouth shot. Yamaguchi once again silently praised his best friends disinterest is basically everything.

The rest of the walk was a little awkward. They still didn't speak, but it suddenly felt uncomfortable, much like it had felt with Iwaizumi.

 _Iwaizumi…._

No, no, no, don't think about him now! Yamaguchi bow his head and focused on the street tiles. He felt nervous, and he didn't know why.

"I go left here," Tsukki suddenly said, "I still need to get some groceries."

Yamaguchi could hardly contain his smile at this point. "Oh, yeah. see you tomorrow, Tsukki."

"see you," Tsukkishima replied, "oh, and Yamaguchi?"

"hmm?"

"have fun with whoever is texting you."

Yamaguchi immediately felt his face turn red. Okay, so he had been even more obvious then he thought he was. Tsukkishima smiled at him, half mockingly, half supporting, and Yamaguchi just nervously smiled back.

He waited till Tsukki was completely out of sight till he got his phone out of his pocket.

Iwaizumi had send him six whole messages. The first one was already enough to make Yamaguchi basically trip over his own feet though.

 **Iwaizumi:** Yama-chaaaaaan! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

Yamaguchi just blinked at the screen for a few seconds. He could feel a smile grow on his face, and a little giggle escaped from his mouth.

From all the messages that he expected, this was defiantly not one of them. He would never ever, ever think that Iwaizumi would use emoji's. And Yama-chan? What was up with that?

He was just staring at the message, not sure if it was actually real, when he realized he should probably read the rest of the messages to.

 **Iwaizumi** : Sorry for that.

 **Iwaizumi:** hey, Yamaguchi.

 **Iwaizumi:** You still want to buy those gloves?

 **Iwaizumi:** Because if you do, I thought we could just go ahead and buy them.

 **Iwaizumi:** If you don't want to I can just wait or buy them on my own. No big deal.

Yamaguchi immediately typed his reply. He was whistling , but nobody was there to hear it.

That he was basically skipping when he walked home was something that nobody would see either. He was just so happy, he couldn't help himself.

 **Yamaguchi:** Seems like a good idea to me! Do we send them to your house or to mine?

* * *

 **Thank you suikodengel and Boo zombie for reviewing! I'm happy you like the story ^^**

 **So, remember about me uploading every Monday? Yeaaaah, That didn't really work out, sorry. I'll just do my best to roughly update every week.**

 **Next chapter: A soaking wet Yamaguchi. A flustered Iwaizumi. Blushing assured.**


	5. Chapter 5

Iwaizumi sat in his bedroom with his hands in his hair. Two sets of gloves where laying next to him, one still neatly packed. Iwaizumi had messaged Yamaguchi as soon as they had arrived, and Yamaguchi had immediately replied that he was on his way.

It had taken more than a week for the gloves to arrive, and Yamaguchi and Iwaizumi had been texting ever since.

They didn't talk that much, but there was pretty much a message every day. Iwaizumi was surprised by how much he enjoyed talking to the younger boy and he didn't really want to admit that he was looking forward to seeing him in person again.

It was a Saturday, Iwaizumi was home alone, Oikawa had his own plans and he didn't have to practise. It was the perfect day for Yamaguchi to come over.

There was one problem though.

It was raining. A lot. It poured down from the heavens, turning everyone who would go outside wet to the skin.

It was quite a long bicycle ride from Yamaguchi's place to Iwaizumi's house, and it had still been sunny when Iwaizumi had asked Yamaguchi to come. Only after 15 minutes did it start to rain, and Iwaizumi was sure that Yamaguchi would arrive at his house looking like a drowned cat.

So now Iwaizumi sat on his bed, his mind filled with regret. Why didn't he offer to go to Yamaguchi's house instead? He was the older one, it would've been the responsible thing to do. If only Yamaguchi hadn't insisted on coming to him…

He really wanted Yamaguchi to associate this first visit with good thing, and getting soaking wet wasn't particularly a good thing. Yamaguchi would probably remember him as that asshole who made him ride through the pouring rain…

He shook his head. Yamaguchi wasn't one to think like that, right?

Right?

He actually didn't even know the boy at all. Still, Iwaizumi could feel a strong connection with Yamaguchi, something that he couldn't explain. Oikawa's teasing hadn't made it easier. At all.

He didn't want to admit that he was having feelings for the sacredly pinch server, so he kept making excuses. He just wanted to be a good senpai, that was everything. He saw Yamaguchi as someone who needed to be protected.

He didn't at all want to be close to the boy because it made him smile or something. He just felt kind of obligated to look out for the boy after what had happened in the city a week ago.

It wasn't like he actually felt pretty proud about standing up for Yamaguchi, no, of course not.

It wasn't like thought his freckles were cute either. Pfff.

Iwaizumi was about to hit himself in the face to get his gay thoughts out of his head when he heard the bell.

He stood up so fast that he saw black spots hovering in front of his eyes, but he ignored them and sprinted down the stairs. He almost tripped over a couple of shoes in the hall, but quickly regained his balance and grabbed the door handle.

It wasn't like he was excited to see Yamaguchi again. No, don't be ridicules. He just didn't want to let anybody stand in the rain longer than necessary.

He opened the door in one go.

In front of him stood a completely soaked, shivering Yamaguchi. His hair was ink-black from all of the water, his nose was red from the cold and his clothes were literally dripping. The black shirt that he was wearing clung to his body, making him look even thinner. He smiled a little when he saw Iwaizumi, his trembling hands wrapped around his small and wet body.

"Can I come in?" He asked shyly.

Iwaizumi Immediately stepped away, giving the other space.

"Of course," He said, "Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry that I let you come here in the rain."

Yamaguchi stepped inside. "It's okay, you didn't know." The water from his clothes dripped to the floor. He kicked his shoes off, revealing his soaking wet socks.

"Oh god, I'm making a mess of your hall," Yamaguchi mumbled.

Iwaizumi shrugged. He couldn't care less about his hallway right now.

"I'll grab a towel real quick," He said, "be back soon."

He stumbled up the stairs and headed for the bathroom. He came back a minute later with the softest and biggest towel he could find.

Yamaguchi was pulling off his socks, still standing on the mat. He was struggling to get his left sock off his feet while standing on one leg. Somewhere along the way he almost lost his balance. A tiny yelp escaped from his mouth while he hobbled around on one foot, trying to keep himself from falling down. he eventually grabbed the door handle for support and leaned against the door before he pulled his sock off in one go. His wet hair bounced up and down with his movements.

 _Cute,_ Iwaizumi thought. He immediately scolded himself for that thought. How rude could he be to think that someone who was completely soaked because he had made him come to his house was cute?

He walked to Yamaguchi and handed him the towel. "Here."

Yamaguchi gratefully took it and threw it over his shoulders. "Thank you."

Iwaizumi awkwardly stood there while Yamaguchi dried his hair and face. He then threw the towel around his body, covering his still wet clothes.

"Do you want to borrow some of my clothes?" Iwaizumi asked.

For a tiny second Yamaguchi's face became red. "If you don't mind."

Iwaizumi shook his head. "Of course not. Come, I'll bring you to the bathroom."

They first walked to Iwaizumi's bedroom to get some clothes. Yamaguchi stood in the doorway while Iwaizumi picked out a hoody and a pair of sweatpants that still covered his desk. He handed them to Yamaguchi and led him to the bathroom.

"You can change in here. Just come to my room when you're finished. You can hang your wet clothes on the drying rack"

Another of those sweet tiny smiles. "Thank you."

Yamaguchi disappeared into the bathroom and Iwaizumi went back to his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and quickly threw some dirty clothes under the bed, together with a few old cola-bottles.

When Yamaguchi came back Iwaizumi was speechless for a good ten seconds. He hadn't really prepared for what he was about to see.

Iwaizumi was pretty much the same height as Yamaguchi, but he was a little broader, so the hoody was a tiny bit too big for Yamaguchi. It hung baggy around his shoulders, making him look smaller. His hair was almost dry now and it had become incredibly messy from the rain. It danced around Yamaguchi's freckled face in a playful manner. It even looked a little fluffy and Iwaizumi had to repress the urge to pet it.

Yamaguchi had tucked his hands in the pockets of the hoody for the warmth. His feet where barely visible from under the pants. The pants seemed to be way too large for Yamaguchi, and Iwaizumi didn't really know how that was possible.

"Come in," He said, walking to the desk. He picked up the item that caused all of this. "Here are the gloves."

Yamaguchi eagerly took them out of Iwaizumi's hands and looked at them with shining eyes.

"They are awesome!" He said.

Iwaizumi put his hands against his sides. "I hope they are worth getting completely soaked for."

Yamaguchi smiled, "They are. Although I hope that you don't mind if I stay here till the rain dies out again."

"No problem," Iwaizumi answered, hoping that he didn't sound to happy, "Sit down." He pointed at the bed. He himself sat down on his bureau chair.

"Are the clothes okay?" he asked.

Yamaguchi sat down and nodded. "They are dry, that's all that matters. The pants are little bit too big though, but its fine."

"Yeah," Iwaizumi said, scratching the back of his head, "I don't really know how that is possible. What is your height?"

A big smile suddenly covered Yamaguchi's face. Iwaizumi felt his cheeks heat up a little. Oh god, this kid was too cute.

"We just did measurements at the club," Yamaguchi said, "I'm 1.80." He looked incredibly proud.

For one second, Iwaizumi thought he could actually hear his heart shatter.

This kid, this first year, this cowardly pinch server, this slender boy with the fluffy hair…was almost a centimetre longer then him. This kid had reached Iwaizumi's goal height at the age of fifteen. That was almost too much to take in.

"Iwaizumi?" Yamaguchi asked, "Is something wrong?"

Iwaizumi realized that he probably looked like he was absolutely mortified, because that was exactly what he was; mortified.

How could this kid be 1.80? Why was the world so cruel?

"Nothing," he eventually said, "I'm just kind of confused, because if you're 1.80 that means that you are taller than me. And that means that those pants shouldn't be too big for you…"

He looked at the pants when a sudden realization hit him.

"Wait," he mumbled, "oh, I get it already. These aren't even my pants. These are the pants that Oikawa accidently left here."

Now it was Yamaguchi's turn to look mortified. "I'm wearing the pants of Oikawa?!"

Iwaizumi chuckled. He sometimes forgot that rival teams saw Oikawa as scary and intimidating. Yamaguchi probably didn't know what kind of dork Oikawa was. The poor kid was completely pale.

"It's fine," Iwaizumi said with a smile, "he probably doesn't even remember that he left them here."

"Ah," Yamaguchi said, still looking uncomfortable.

Iwaizumi laughed out loud. "Seriously, Oikawa isn't such of a big deal."

Yamaguchi looked at him like he had just told him that the earth was flat.

"Come on," Iwaizumi said, "haven't you seen how he messes around with the team when we are at tournaments?"

"I guess so…" Yamaguchi said, "Although I was kind of too busy with trying not to throw up most of the time to really focus on other teams."

Iwaizumi folded his arms, "Seriously," he said, "Oikawa is probably the most stupid, dorky person that I know."

Yamaguchi didn't look convinced. "Maybe," he said, "maybe I would have to get to know him to believe that. In the end, I was scared of you in the beginning too."

Iwaizumi blinked. "You were scared of me?"

Yamaguchi smiled a shy smile with a hint of embarrassment. "Of course. You are the ace of aoba Josei. What do you want."

"Hmff." The sound escaped Iwaizumi's mouth before he could stop it. "You are the team that defeated Shiratorizawa, so you shouldn't talk like we are better then you."

Yamaguchi seemed a little shocked by that statement. Maybe it had been a little bit to blunt, Iwaizumi realized.

Yamaguchi quickly regained himself though. "Maybe," he said, "But you were still a very challenging opponent. And I wouldn't say that we are better then you. I think that we are pretty much even. No matter how you see it, you are still the ace of a powerhouse school. That automatically makes you kind of scary."

"Are you still scared of me?" Iwaizumi asked.

Yamaguchi needed to think about that a little bit to long for Iwaizumi's liking.

"No," He finally said, "I do look up to you though."

Iwaizumi hadn't expected the first year to say that so casually. He felt a blush grow on his cheeks, but he did his best to repress it, staring at the window of his room, away from Yamaguchi. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Luckily, nature came to the rescue. Just when the silence went on for a little bit too long, a powerful thunder startled both teens. The lighting blinded them, forcing Iwaizumi to look away from the window.

"It seems like we are going to be stuck here for a while," Iwaizumi mumbled. He stood up and closed the curtains. "I'm afraid that you won't be able to go home any time soon."

Yamaguchi smiled. The smile started small, just a little twitch in the corners of his mouth, but ended up covering his face from ear to ear.

"It's okay. I'm just happy that I'm dry."

Iwaizumi smiled back, knowing that it would probably never look as sweet as Yamaguchi's smile. "Well, do you want to do something? Play video games?"

Yamaguchi nodded. "Sure. I'm really good at smash brothers."

Iwaizumi grinned. "Me too." He couldn't help but feel the need to prove his skills. "Wait, let me get it."

Five minutes later they were playing, a controller clamped in their hands, their eyes glued to the screen.

Iwaizumi knew he was a competitive player in basically every game possible, but he hadn't expected Yamaguchi to be exactly the same. He had even planned to go easy on the boy, but he soon noticed that that wasn't necessary at all.

Yamaguchi won the first round and let out an exited cheer of victory, followed by a cute little blush on his cheeks.

Iwaizumi grunted. He couldn't stand losing. Even if it was against a cutie like Yamaguchi.

"Okay," He said, sounding defeated, "Okay, It's on."

From then on he played with all he had. Yamaguchi did to. They sat in total silence, completely focused on the screen, their fingers moving as quickly as they could. Every time an attack worked out, they would let out a little yell of victory or a groan of disappointment.

Iwaizumi won the second and the third time. Yamaguchi the fourth time. They were each other's equals, and both ended up losing and winning roughly the same amount of times.

Iwaizumi was surprised by how fanatic Yamaguchi was, screaming out in joy every time he won, almost throwing the controller away when he lost. He had almost forgotten that Yamaguchi was sportsman, just like him. They had fought each other on the court, and they had both given everything they had, so of course they were going to be fanatic in a videogame to.

Iwaizumi was also surprised by how much he enjoyed it, and by how relaxed they both where. The more games they played, the louder they became, yelling "Take that!" And even the occasional "Fuck you!" at each other.

When Yamaguchi won a particular game with a beautiful combo, Iwaizumi grumpily punched him on the shoulder.

It was all tons of fun. It was relaxed and laid back. They played for hours and hours, till eventually…

Yamaguchi's belly started making sound. He awkwardly pushed his hands in his stomach and stared at the curtains in front of Iwaizumi's window, clearly listening to the storm that was still as strong in the beginning.

"Maybe you should stay here for dinner," Iwaizumi suggested, suddenly very aware of his own hunger.

Yamaguchi nodded.

It was silent for a few seconds. Outside, the weather kept raging on. Iwaizumi felt like they were both thinking about the same thing, but he wasn't entirely sure. He felt like he had to say something, like he had to address what they both knew was probably going to happen, but he wasn't sure if Yamaguchi was even aware of the situation as much as he was.

Maybe Yamaguchi thought that the rain would just die out so he could go home after dinner. Iwaizumi didn't want to startle Yamaguchi. He didn't want to push the boy to do things he was uncomfortable with.

But there wasn't really a choice was there?

A particularly loud thunder pushed Iwaizumi over the edge and made him say what he wanted to say.

"I'm afraid…" he said, repressing his blush, repressing his smile (no, you idiot, don't be happy about this), "I'm afraid that you maybe have to spend the night too, if the storm doesn't go away. It's not safe to go outside like this."

Yamaguchi looked startled, Just like Iwaizumi had expected, but he weirdly enough didn't look uncomfortable.

Wait a minute…

Was he even…smiling?

It was small and almost non-existent, but yes, that was defiantly a smile.

Yamaguchi lowered his head and looked at the ground. "I'm afraid that you are right."

He didn't look afraid at all.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! Sorry that this is late. I'll try to update the next one as fast as I can. ^^**

 **Comments are fuel for my inspiration, so please tell me if you liked it!**

 **Next chapter: Yamaguchi discovers the many different faces of Iwaizumi and fantasizes about him in an apron.**


	6. Chapter 6

In the few hours that Yamaguchi had spent at Iwaizumi's house, he had discovered a few things.

Discovery 1: Iwaizumi was caring. More caring then Yamaguchi had expected. Iwaizumi had given him a soft fluffy towel and spare clothes. He had looked at him in worry when he was drying his wet hair. And now he had even offered Yamaguchi to stay for the night because the weather was dangerous. It where all small gestures, sure, but for some reason they came unexpected for Yamaguchi.

Discovery 2: It was really nice to spend time with Iwaizumi. It was fun and relaxing to just hang out with him, and Yamaguchi was surprised by how easy it all went. He wasn't nervous. He didn't feel intimidated. He was at ease, and Iwaizumi was too, and time flew by quickly.

Discovery 3, the most weird, unexpected and mind-blowing discovery of them all: Iwaizumi could be really cute. It completely threw Yamaguchi of guard. Iwaizumi had charisma, sure. He was handsome, sure. But he wasn't cute. Or that was what Yamaguchi had always thought, and now he was overwhelmed by how not true that was.

It was the way he would look at Yamaguchi, with real interest and compassion. It was the way his shoulders tensed up when he was playing a video game, how he bit his lip while pulling of a difficult combo. It was the way he softly punched Yamaguchi on the shoulder, only to withdraw his hand so quickly that Yamaguchi questioned if it had even been there.

It was the soft blush that suddenly covered his face when he asked Yamaguchi to stay. It was the nervous smile and the way his hands clenched into fists.

Iwaizumi was cute because Yamaguchi had never expected him to be, and seeing this softer side of him didn't only freak Yamaguchi out a little, it also made him flustered and giggly for some reason.

Of course he had said yes to Iwaizumi's invitation to stay for the night. How could he say no to that blushing face?

But as soon as the words left his lips, Iwaizumi just nodded and went back to his normal, confident self. It was almost as if the nervous smile and the blushing never happened.

Luckily they came back really quick.

"So," Iwaizumi said, "food, huh?"

Yamaguchi nodded. He suddenly felt like he had forgotten how to talk again.

Iwaizumi scratched on his shoulder, looking at the carpet like he was trying to find something he needed.

"Hmm," He mumbled in a raspy voice, "I would order Pizza, if it wasn't for this weather. I'm afraid we have to make something ourselves."

"That's okay," Yamaguchi answered, "I have no problem with that."

For some reason, the thought of cooking with Iwaizumi really exited him. His mind immediately created an Image on Iwaizumi in a apron, skilfully handling more pans at the same time, putting in ingredients left and right, making a delicious meal in no time, and…

"There is one problem," Iwaizumi said, interrupting Yamaguchi's fantasy, "I don't know how much food we have in the house right now…and…" he was staring at the carpet again, a look of shame on his face, "and I'm not that good at cooking…"

Bam. The cute blush was back, stronger than ever before.

Yamaguchi's fantasy was shattered forever, but he didn't mind, because as soon as he recovered from this ridiculously cute confession, he felt a warm feeling of pride rise in his stomach.

"It's okay," He heard himself say, "I don't mind cooking. I actually quite enjoy it."

Iwaizumi looked up at him. "Can you cook?"

"Yeah." Yamaguchi couldn't hide his smile. Finally something that he was actually good at! Finally something that didn't make him look weak, that he was proud of, that he could do all by himself!

"I'll cook for you," he said.

The words were out of his mouth before he realized it. This time he had to hide a blush too.

"Are you sure?" Iwaizumi asked, avoiding eye contact. Yamaguchi didn't mind, because he was doing exactly the same.

"I'm sure."

"Okay."

Iwaizumi stood up and turned off his console. "I'm still not sure if we actually have enough ingredients to make something decent though."

Yamaguchi stood up too, suddenly confident. "It's okay. I'm sure there is something we can make."

He smiled. Being around Iwaizumi made him smile so easily.

"Okay then," Iwaizumi said, "let's go to the kitchen."

Iwaizumi's kitchen was small and packed, but it had a warm and cosy feel to it. The wooden chairs and countertop where completely different from the gleaming stainless steel in Yamaguchi's kitchen. He decided that he liked this way more.

They opened the fridge to decide what they were going to make. In the end they went with curry, a simple dish that they could make with all the leftover food in the house.

Iwaizumi cooking wasn't going to happen. But Iwaizumi in an apron was still a possibility. Yamaguchi still had hope.

"So," Iwaizumi said, awkwardly staring at all the ingredients on the table, "and…what do we do now?"

Yamaguchi just looked at him for a few seconds. "Ehhh," he mumbled, "could you cut the vegetables? Then I'll do the meat and the sauce and…everything else."

Iwaizumi nodded and silently got a knife out of one of the kitchen drawers. He was about to start cutting an onion when he noticed that Yamaguchi was still staring at him. He grumpily looked up. "What?"

Yamaguchi literally did a step backwards when he heard the dark undertone in Iwaizumi's voice. He had completely forgotten how Intimidating Iwaizumi could be.

"Nothing!" Another step backwards, "I just...I'm sorry." He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for.

Iwaizumi hastily looked down at the onions. "No, sorry, I didn't mean it like that." A deep inhale. "I was afraid that I was doing something wrong, that's all."

Yamaguchi aggressively shook his head. It almost made him dizzy. "No, no! I just wondered…eh…" Oh god, he could feel his cheeks heat up. "I just wondered…do you have an apron? I don't want to get the clothes that you gave to me dirty. You could wear one too, I mean…you don't have to…but…if you want to...like…you know…you could."

He helplessly stared at the floor, hoping that his hair covered his red face. This was way more awkward then he intended it to be. He listed to the rain on the roof and considered just running out of the house and risking getting struck by lightning, but was luckily stopped from doing that by Iwaizumi's calm voice.

"Sure, wait, let me get them."

Yamaguchi looked up, only to see Iwaizumi walk out of the kitchen. He took advantage of this little time alone and leaned on the kitchen table while letting out a long sigh. A few seconds later, Iwaizumi came in and gave a blue apron to Yamaguchi, already wearing his.

Yamaguchi immediately knew that the embarrassment was all worth it. Iwaizumi in an apron was even better in real life. It turned him into a deadly combination of handsome and cute. Yamaguchi already couldn't handle a cute Iwaizumi or a handsome Iwaizumi apart from each other, let alone at the same time. It was almost too much, and he quickly refocused on cooking, only glaring at Iwaizumi once in a while, making sure not to be seen.

He was caught staring one time. They were both cutting vegetables, and they looked up at the same time, looking at each other in shock for a few seconds. They both quickly looked down again, softly smiling.

Yamaguchi was smiling at least. And even though he didn't have the guts to look at Iwaizumi a second time, he was convinced that he was smiling to. It was almost like he could feel it, a warm energy that travelled from Iwaizumi to him and back, like something connected them, like they were both thinking the exact same thing.

At that moment, for one small second, Yamaguchi dared to think the unthinkable.

What if…what if Iwaizumi…liked him?

The thought send a shiver down Yamaguchi's spine. It felt like his whole world shifted, like he suddenly entered a new part of his life, a part where Iwaizumi liking him was a possibility.

It was a small possibility. An extremely small possibility. But still, it was there.

He didn't get the time to think about it more, though. He couldn't indulge himself in the thought, he couldn't think about it long enough to make him blush, because suddenly, in the middle of this life changing revelation, his phone rang.

It was his mom.

Oh god.

Yamaguchi took a deep breath and put his phone against his ear.

"mom?"

"Tadashi! Where on earth are you? The weather is crazy, why aren't you home?"

"ehhh," Yamaguchi swallowed, "I am at a friend's house."

"Oh." A deep inhale, and then: "Why didn't you call then? I was worried about you Tadashi! You need to call me if you go somewhere unexpected. For god sake, why did you even go outside in the first place? It's a storm, Tadashi! Is that friend of yours really that important? You should think about your safety!"

"I'm sorry, I'll call next time. I'll stay here for the night, so I won't have to go outside anymore."

"And since when do I allow you to just sleep at a house of someone I don't know? You're not at Tsukishima's place, I called him. He didn't know where you were either. Who is this friend of yours?"

"Ehhh…His name is Iwaizumi."

"Who is he? Is he from school?"

"yeah…no…eh…he's from volleyball."

A small silence. Yamaguchi dared to breathe.

"Are his parents home? I would like to speak with them."

"No, sorry."

"So you are home alone with some friend I've never heard off?"

"Yeah…"

Another silence. That was not a good sign, Yamaguchi knew.

"We'll talk about this further tomorrow," his mom eventually said, "Just stay there for now. Come home if the weather gets better."

"Okay."

Goodnight, Tadashi."

Goodnight…"

He lowered his phone with a sigh.

"Problems?" Iwaizumi asked with one eyebrow up.

"My mom doesn't like that I'm here."

Iwaizumi looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry if I brought you into trouble." He didn't look away.

Yamaguchi, in contrast to Iwaizumi, couldn't handle the long eye contact and broke away, looking at the table. "no, It's okay. Come, let's go further with the food."

So that was what they did. They worked in silence, concentrating on their job. Yamaguchi's good mood was ruined more than he liked to admit. Hs fingers kept working, Iwaizumi's presence felt warm and nice, but somehow, Yamaguchi felt like crying.

It wasn't only that his mom was angry at him. If that was all there was he wouldn't be so upset. The thing that upset him the most was a sudden realization he had.

His mom didn't know he was gay, and he was almost curtain that she wouldn't approve of it. Normally he didn't really care, he didn't want to think about his sexuality to much himself, but now that he was standing here next to Iwaizumi, it suddenly made him feel sad.

And the sadness didn't really go away. Yamaguchi didn't even know why it was there in the first place, let alone why it wouldn't just leave. All he knew was that he suddenly felt ashamed when he had to blush because of Iwaizumi's smile, that he felt wrong for feeling his heart make a jump when Iwaizumi suddenly stood really close to him. It was like he finally realized something that he had forgotten for a few hours, and he wished he could forget it again.

Being gay was different. It wasn't like the norm.

Every time that Yamaguchi realized that, it made him feel alone. Small. Weird. Out of place.

He couldn't help it. Whenever he would start thinking like that, he just couldn't stop.

And now he just happened to stand in the kitchen of his crush, almost about to cry because he was gay. How pathetic.

"Hey," Iwaizumi said, "shall we eat in my room? We can watch something on my laptop if you want."

Yamaguchi looked up at a smiling Iwaizumi with two plates of food in his hand. Yamaguchi had been so busy with his depressing thoughts that he hadn't even notices that they had finished the food.

"Eh," he mumbled, still a little disorientated, "Yeah, sure."

He quickly took a plate form Iwaizumi's hands and followed him back to the bedroom.

"Don't we need to clean up?" he asked.

"Neh," Iwaizumi answered, "I already did most of it. We can do the rest later."

He suddenly stopped walking and turned around, looking at Yamaguchi.

"Are you alright? You seem a little out of it."

Yamaguchi felt a cheesy smile cover his face, a smile he knew would make it blatantly obvious that he wasn't okay.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

Iwaizumi shrugged and walked into his room. A few seconds later Yamaguchi was standing in the middle of the room with two plates of food in his hands while Iwaizumi was frantically looking for his laptop. After a minute or so Iwaizumi pointed at his desk, telling Yamaguchi to just put the plates there for the time being. He immediately went back to searching, clearly being annoyed that he had no idea where his laptop was.

Yamaguchi put the plates on the desk, and of course his hand had to slip and push a big pile of paperwork of the table.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted even before the papers hit the ground. The pile landed with a loud thud, immediately spreading out over the floor.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Yamaguchi said, already bending over to clean up the mess.

"It's okay, It's okay." Iwaizumi sounded weirdly panicked. He was on the ground just as quick as Yamaguchi, already shoving some papers together.

Yamaguchi blindly grabbed a random piece of paper from the floor, ready to help Iwaizumi clean up, but was surprised when Iwaizumi forcefully snatched it out of his hand. It was only a matter of milliseconds before the paper was completely out of sight, but it was enough for Yamaguchi's eyes to hover over it and read the text.

He immediately felt his heart skip a beat. He looked at Iwaizumi, who had folded the paper in half and was staring at his own hands.

Could it be?

Could it really be true?

There had been two words on the paper. Two words that Yamaguchi had been able to read. Two words and they made his mind go into overdrive. They made his heart beat and his hands shake. He repeated them over and over again, hardly able to believe they were true.

 _LGBT Meeting._

Iwaizumi had a paper with the words "lgbt meeting" in his room. And he had done everything to make sure that Yamaguchi wouldn't notice it.

And oh how happy Yamaguchi was that he hadn't succeeded in that.

* * *

 **So first of all, I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated this is such a long time. I was on a holiday, and after that it was just really hard to pick up writing again. You could call it a good old case of writersblock.**

 **I fought my way through it though, so here is the new chapter! I really hope you liked it, please tell me if you did ^^**

 **Next chapter: Yamaguchi has a very personal question to ask. Iwaizumi keeps reading signals wrong and has no idea how to cope with the situation.**


	7. Chapter 7

Iwaizumi had no idea what was happening. One moment he was just searching for his laptop, the second moment he was on his knees next to Yamaguchi, snatching a paper out his hand like his life depended on it.

He had realized that Yamaguchi could possibly find the lgbt flyer as soon as the papers hit the ground, and he had immediately dropped everything to prevent that. He had hoped to find the flyer before Yamaguchi did, but when he saw it in Yamaguchi's hand he just instinctively snatched it. Now it was in his shaking hands, aggressively folded together.

He had no idea why his was being so nervous over this. He was out of the closet for god sake! His family, all of his friends and his whole team knew that he was gay. Why would it matter so much if some kid from another school found out?

He knew why it mattered though. It mattered because Yamaguchi was already so much more than just some kid from another school. Iwaizumi couldn't bare an awkward Yamaguchi who would try to tell him that 'there is nothing wrong with being gay' and 'I have a cousin who is gay, it's totally fine.'

Those things always sounded really comforting on the outside, but nothing really screams 'I am straight' more than someone explicitly saying that it's okay to be gay.

Iwaizumi didn't really want to live with that reality just yet. He still liked to pretend that Yamaguchi technically didn't have to be straight because he hadn't clearly said so.

Not that he wanted a relationship with Yamaguchi or something like that. He just…liked the thought of Yamaguchi maybe, possibly not being straight. Yeah, that was it, nothing more.

Still, Iwaizumi had no idea if Yamaguchi had actually read what was on the paper or not. He certainly looked shocked, but that could also just be because Iwaizumi had ripped it away so forcefully.

A few seconds in silence went by. Iwaizumi waited for Yamaguchi to say something, but nothing happened. Eventually he decided to break the silence himself, not being able to cope with the awkward tension.

"Eh…" he mumbled, not sure about what he actually wanted to say, "Sorry for that."

He tried to shove the flyer in his pocket in the most casual way possible and proceeded to clean up the rest of the papers.

"Sorry," Yamaguchi said, "I shouldn't have touched your stuff."

Iwaizumi examined Yamaguchi's face, still trying to find out if he had read anything or not. Yamaguchi looked confused, but not anything more than that. Even if he had read it, he certainly was good at pretending he hadn't.

"It's okay," Iwaizumi answered, feeling slightly ashamed for making Yamaguchi feel like he had done something bad, "I was being weird. Wait, I'll be finished in a minute, than we can eat."

Iwaizumi quickly put the papers back on his desk and looked further for his laptop. The food was probably getting cold and they were probably better of eating it immediately, but after all this awkwardness Iwaizumi couldn't bare to just eat in silence. He needed a distraction, something to focus on that was not the burning question in his head about the sexuality of the person he was going to spend the night with.

He luckily quickly found his laptop under his bed, and he almost couldn't stop himself from hugging it.

Before he knew it they were sitting next to each other, eating half warm food, watching some animation series about robots in space.

It was Yamaguchi who had picked out the series, and even though Iwaizumi honestly couldn't care less about what they were watching as long as it would make him feel less uncomfortable, he had to admit that he quite enjoyed it.

He even laughed out loud a couple of times.

It even made him forget how close Yamaguchi was sitting for a few minutes.

Because god damn, Yamaguchi was sitting close. Their shoulders didn't quite touch, but Iwaizumi could already feel Yamaguchi's warmth against his arm. At one point Iwaizumi subconsciously moved closer, accidentally leaning into Yamaguchi's shoulder for a second, but e quickly sat up straight again, even moving away a little. It took him a full episode to slowly shove back to his start position.

Every time Yamaguchi laughed, Iwaizumi just had to take a few seconds to register it. It sounded so wonderful that it completely blocked out all the other sound it the room, including the series. He found himself missing some bits of the series because it was so hard to concentrate with Yamaguchi so close, laughing, snickering, moving, breathing.

He really wanted to be even closer, but he simultaneously didn't know if he could handle that.

They ended up watching 5 episodes in one row before calling it a day. One thing that the series had done for them was erasing the awkward atmosphere that had hanged over them. Iwaizumi was almost hundred percent sure that Yamaguchi hadn't read the flyer and had probably already forgotten about the incident.

Another thing that the series provided was something to talk about. Yamaguchi had suggested the series and now he wanted to know what Iwaizumi thought of it.

Iwaizumi thanked god and the heavens for giving him and Yamaguchi the same taste so he didn't have to fake his enthusiasm. He started talking and couldn't stop. They kept chatting about it for a long time, just sitting on the ground, pointing out different things to each other.

This was one of those moments that Iwaizumi realized how natural it felt to be with Yamaguchi. It felt like they had known each other for such a long time, and that feeling stayed with them throughout the rest of the evening. They did the dished together. They got the futon from the loft together. Yamaguchi took a shower and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt form Iwaizumi that would serve as pyjama. Iwaizumi made up Yamaguchi's bed and neatly laid down the blankets and pillows. Before they went to bed they first listened to a few songs of their favourite band, and even though they were just sitting in silence and listening, it made Iwaizumi really happy for some reason.

They went to bed with the sound of thunder still around them, but it honestly made Iwaizumi feel warm and cosy inside. He turned off the light, wished Yamaguchi goodnight, and got ready to sleep. He didn't want to admit it, but he was really looking forward to bedhead Yamaguchi in the morning.

Iwaizumi was relaxed. Iwaizumi was comfortable. Iwaizumi was happy. Until, five minutes after they had wished each other goodnight, Yamaguchi rolled around on his futon.

"Iwaizumi?"

Iwaizumi turned around to face Yamaguchi's futon, even though he couldn't see anything in this darkness.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Iwaizumi suddenly felt very uneasy. "Sure."

"It is…something personal though."

The uneasy feeling only grew. "Sure, go ahead."

It was silent for a few seconds. The tension grew and Iwaizumi turned to lay on his back and stared at the pitch black ceiling.

Yamaguchi's question started with a very loud breath and ended in very soft words.

"Are you…gay?"

Iwaizumi swallowed. Somehow he had already seen this coming. He suddenly realized that this was the first time someone had asked him this. Nobody had ever expected that he was gay, and everyone else who knew about it only knew because he had chosen to tell them.

Answering the question when he wasn't the one who chose when to do so was harder than it should be. Still, there was only one thing he could answer.

He took a large breath. "Yes."

"Oh," Yamaguchi answered. Iwaizumi had absolutely no idea what that meant. Even though he was very happy that he could hide in the dark himself, he really wished he could see Yamaguchi's face right now.

"Did you see the flyer?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Another silence. Iwaizumi felt incredibly nervous but he didn't know why. He wished Yamaguchi would just spill out what he had to say about all of this, whatever it was.

"Is there something wrong with me being gay?" he asked grumpily. He didn't mean to sound so upset, but he was feeling on edge.

"No!" Yamaguchi answered immediately, "no, of course not!"

It didn't make Iwaizumi feel relieved. He was just silently waiting for Yamaguchi to tell him that it was okay to be gay and that he didn't see him differently. Which was exactly what he didn't want to hear. He didn't want Yamaguchi to see him differently. He didn't want Yamaguchi to make him feel better about being different, because he didn't want to be different.

But reality was reality, and sadly not all cute pinch servers with a good taste in music and series, cute freckles, a wonderful smile and a kind heart were going to be gay.

"It's just…you know…" Yamaguchi mumbled. He was talking so softly that Iwaizumi had to fully concentrate to hear him. What was going on here?

"It's just that…I am gay too."

Iwaizumi stopped breathing for a second. "What?"

"I'm gay," Yamaguchi repeated, louder this time. Iwaizumi knew he hadn't heard that wrong. He knew his ears weren't betraying him. Still, it didn't feel real. A small feeling of euphoria grew in his stomach as he slowly realized what this meant.

Yamaguchi let out a nervous giggle. "I'm sorry…I just haven't said it out loud before. This is weird for me."

Iwaizumi was still too much in shock to form a coherent sentence. He disgustingly felt a giggle escape from his own mouth; it was soft and small but very hearable.

"I'm gay," Yamaguchi repeated again, clearly to himself. Iwaizumi could remember the countless times that he had said that sentence to himself in front of the mirror to get comfortable with it before coming out.

Iwaizumi was silent. He had a thousand questions hanging around in his head but his lips wouldn't move. He just waited for Yamaguchi to explain what this meant.

Iwaizumi was gay. Yamaguchi was gay. The cards clearly laid on the table.

Did this mean Yamaguchi liked him?

"Can I ask you something?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Sure."

"When did you realize you were gay?"

Iwaizumi really wanted to just say 'Oikawa', but kept himself from doing that just in time.

"I was quite young," he said. "I just noticed that I liked boys more than girls. There were…certain guys that I had a crush on, and from there on it just seemed logical."

"Was it hard to accept that?"

"In the beginning, yes. But I eventually got to a point where I just embraced it. I came out to my team and my family, and now it's a normal part of me."

Iwaizumi heard a small sign come from Yamaguchi's mouth, followed by the sound of moving blankets. Yamaguchi was turning around on the futon. Was he turning away from Iwaizumi or toward him?

"There is something else," Yamaguchi said, "that I would like to ask you."

Iwaizumi's heart started to beat faster. "Go right ahead."

Yamaguchi took a large breath. "Since I am gay…and you are gay…"

"yes?"

"I wondered…"

A silence fell.

"I wondered…If you…"

Iwaizumi really wanted to just roll out of his bed to force Yamaguchi to spill it out.

"I wondered if you wanted…"

 _I wondered if you wanted to go out with me._ Iwaizumi already finished the sentence in his head. Now he just had to wait for the real thing.

Yamaguchi took one final large breath.

"I wondered if you…wanted to give me some tips about coming out."

Oh. Oh, it was like that.

Iwaizumi swallowed. "Of course. What do you want to know?"

"I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't think I have enough courage for this. I feel like I'm going to be in the closet for my entire life. "

"Believe me," Iwaizumi said, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice, "I've felt the same way. It takes time, and you have to give yourself that time. Before you can come out to others, you kind of have to come out to yourself. Get comfortable with your sexuality. Be confident."

Yamaguchi chuckled.

"what?"

"Confidence isn't exactly my speciality."

"Confidence is something you can learn," Iwaizumi replied. "It is something that's already inside of you, I'm sure of it. You just have to bring it out."

"How?"

That was something Iwaizumi had to think over. Yes, how did you bring out confidence? It was certainly easier said than done. He couldn't help but think back at the day that they walked into each other and went for lunch. He could still clearly remember a shaking Yamaguchi against the wall, surrounded by three bullies. They hadn't talked about the incident ever since and Iwaizumi was sure that Yamaguchi didn't want to. People like that probably weren't really good for Yamaguchi's confidence. Iwaizumi wondered if he had dealt with bullies like that before…

"You need to…" he heard himself say, mostly because he felt like the silence went on for too long, "you need to…do stuff."

"Do…stuff?" Yamaguchi didn't seem to get it. Iwaizumi wasn't sure if he got it himself either, but he had the feeling that what he was saying would eventually get them somewhere.

"Yeah," he replied, "do stuff. Stuff that you like. Like volleyball. Do volleyball. Practice a lot. That gives you confidence."

"But I'm not even that good."

"I swear to god," Iwaizumi said, "If you knew how nervous that jump float serve of yours made us feel, you wouldn't say that."

The only reason he dared to be so honest was because it was dark. Now Yamaguchi couldn't see him blush.

"Okay," Yamaguchi said, "But I'm still bad at all the other stuff. Like receiving."

"Then you practice."

"Will practice make it easier to come out?"

Iwaizumi' sighed. "I don't know. But I think you can do it. Both the coming out and the volleyball I mean. You're working really hard. Not that I know you that well, It's just… I have the feeling you can do it."

It was silent. Iwaizumi could clearly hear Yamaguchi breathe.

"Thanks," Yamaguchi said, "it's is really nice of you to say that."

"No problem. I mean it." Iwaizumi had no idea why he was being so honest.

"Iwaizumi?"

They way Yamaguchi said his name made Iwaizumi shiver. There was something really sweet about is, something soft and caring.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you one more question about being gay?"

Iwaizumi wanted to say that Yamaguchi could ask him all the gay questions he wanted, the whole night long, but he kept that wish inside him. "Yes, sure."

"Do you like someone?"

Iwaizumi swallowed. "ehhh….maybe."

It was silent again. Yamaguchi sure liked long uncomfortable silences in the middle of personal conversations.

"Do you like…" Yamaguchi asked, carefully saying the words, "…Do you like Oikawa?"

Iwaizumi thanked the darkness in the room _again,_ knowing that he was a blushing mess right now. "I've liked him in the past. He was my first crush to be honest. But that is over now. Besides, he's not even gay."

Yamaguchi let out long breath. "Figures."

"What?" Iwaizumi asked.

"Nothing," Yamaguchi replied hasty. "I just couldn't imagine how anyone could be best friends with someone like him and not fall in love."

Iwaizumi laughed out loud. "I guess you're right. He doesn't have all those stupid fan girls for nothing."

It was silent. Iwaizumi knew that now was the time to ask Yamaguchi if he liked someone. It wouldn't even be a convoluted transition. He had answered the exact same question, it would only be natural.

Somehow, he just couldn't do it.

So it stayed silent. He turned around and told himself to just go to sleep.

He had never expected Yamaguchi to be gay. But now that this actually turned out to be a reality, he suddenly had yet another thing to consider.

What if Yamaguchi was into guys, but just wasn't into him?

* * *

 **wow, look at me, actually updating on time!**

 **Also, for those who wondered, yes, they watched Voltron, fight me.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Next chapter: Both Iwaizumi and Yamaguchi need some time to process everything. Oikawa however doesn't have that kind of patience.**


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